The UK’s first construction soils and aggregates exchange platform has officially launched in the North-West. Earth-Exchange UK Limited is a cutting-edge platform designed to assist UK developers and contractors with the sustainable reuse of construction materials.
The easy-to-use website is the first of its type in the UK and has been developed over several years. It enables members to trade materials, save money and improve sustainability credentials by using an interactive map to search and review sites with a surplus or requirement for recycled materials locally.
Earth Exchange director Kerry Bone said: “For volume housebuilders and contractors, surplus soils can be a costly headache with expensive disposal costs rearing their head at the end of each development phase. But one developer’s excess is another’s resource, with shortages of topsoil, clean cover material and recycled aggregates also a common drain on profits.
“Working under UK guidelines, members can now proactively plan the sourcing and removal of recycled construction materials – it’s one less thing to worry about or budget for and encourages the construction community to work more collaboratively.”
The platform was launched as a pilot in the northwest in 2023 and is now rolling out nationally.
Significant savings have been made amongst members by making simple trades to avoid costly landfilling or overpayment of materials already potentially available as surplus in the region.
Jim Hennessey of Nationwide Building & Civils said, “We subscribed and uploaded our site in Newcastle, where we needed clean fill to raise flood levels for a 466-unit housing scheme. Through Earth Exchange, we were contacted by a number of regional developers and were able to source all of the required materials within two weeks.”
Earth Exchange stakeholders are knowledgeable developers and contractors with years of experience in remediation, reclamation, and construction. The business works closely with CL:AIRE, a UK charity committed to providing a valuable service to all those involved in sustainable land reuse. CL:AIRE offers advice on the Definition of Waste Code of Practice (DoWCoP), which provides a clear, consistent, and efficient process for reusing excavated materials.
Kerry stated, “Working under CL:AIRE guidance, we allow subscribers to communicate privately and to trade materials and aggregates cost-effectively, avoiding unnecessary landfill gate fees and expensive material imports via subcontractors.
“It’s a revolutionary approach to sustainable construction and reduction in waste, and the Earth Exchange team is helping the Top 20 housebuilders, substantial contractors, commercial developers, quarries, and landfills to populate the platform. It’s already proving extremely popular, and I’m confident we’ll see great success during the pilot launch and beyond.”
With recent changes in planning legislation, biodiversity net gain (BNG) will be a primary focus for every developer on every planning application in the country. Through the planning process, developers will need to demonstrate a 10% increase in the creation of planting and ecological habitats as part of their development. If this is not possible, they can buy BNG units that other developers, landscaping projects or farmers have created.
Earth Exchange allows subscribers to trade such units across the UK without a brokerage fee.
Kerry concluded: “Earth Exchange is a fantastic platform for corporate members to enhance their green credentials and unlike any other platform is unique in that it does not seek to benefit from such transactions, other than a small subscription fee to cover the software development and website hosting and management costs.”
